Vehicular apparatus for transportation of freight



0. C. OLSEN Oct. 18, 1955 VEHICULAR APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTATION OFFREIGHT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Original Filed May 10, 1950 o. c. OLSEN2,720,991

N OF FREIGHT Oct. 18, 1955 VEHICULAR APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTATIOOriginal Filed May 10, 1950 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 flaw United States PatentVEHICULAR APPARATUS FOR TRANSPORTATION OF FREIGHT Olaf ChristopherOlsen, Johnson County, Kansi, assignor to Transport Equipment, Inc., acorporation of Maryland Original application May 10, 1950, Serial No.161,2I 0. Divided and this application August 20, 1951, Serial N 0.242,693

2 Claims. (Cl. 214-520) My invention consists in a new and usefulimprovement in apparatus for the transportation of freight, and isdesigned more particularly for transportation of freight of less thancarload lots in containers which are handled entirely mechanically byconveyor mechanisms incorporated in land vehicles. This application is adivisional application of my co-pending parent application, SerialNumber 161,210, filed May 10, 1950.

My improved land vehicle is provided with a vertically reciprocableplatform having conveyor cables disposed transversely of the vehiclewhereby the containers can be raised and moved off of the vehicle, andmoved onto and lowered upon the vehicle, and also provided with a novelform of locking mechanism whereby the containers are firmly attached tothe vehicle during transport thereby.

While I have illustrated in the drawings filed herewith and havehereinafter fully described one specific embodiment of my invention, itis to be distinctly understood that I do not consider my invention to belimited to said specific embodiment, but refer for its scope to theclaims appended hereto.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a top plan view of a truck chassis and its conveyor mechanism.

Fig. 2 is a side elevation of the chassis and conveyor mechanism, thelatter being shown retracted.

Fig. 3 is a view similar to Fig. 2, the conveyor mechanism being shownextended.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation of the locking means for the chassis andcontainer, the parts being shown in locked position.

Fig. 5 is an end view of the chassis locking mechanism, the parts beingin the position illustrated in Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a view similar to Fig. 5, the parts being shown in unlockedposition.

Fig. 7 is a view similar to Fig. 4, the parts being shown in unlockedposition.

My improved vehicle has a chassis T with conveyor and locking mechanismthereon. The chassis T has the ordinary form of rear wheels 56 andforward coupling mechanism 57 with swinging supporting wheel 58. Theside beams 59 are underslung providing an upper level at front and rearof the chassis and a lower level amidship. The conveyor platform iscomposed of two angle beams 61 transverse to the side beams 59 and twoangle beams 61 parallel with the beams 59. This platform is mounted uponthe beams 59 for vertical movement relative to the beams 59, by pivotedlinks 62 on the beams 59 and pivoted links 63 on the beams 60, both setsbeing pivoted to blocks 64 through which are threaded the ends of shafts65. Suitably mounted on one of the beams 61 is a motor M having drivingshafts 66 and 67. The shaft 66 is connected by clutch 68 with mitergears 69, 70 driving slotted shaft 71 slidable in and driving Worm gear72 meshing with worm 73 on one of the shafts 65 connected by sprocketwheels 74 and sprocket chain 75 with the other shaft 65. The motordriving shaft 67 is journaled in a bracket 76 on the beams 61 andconnected 2,729,991 Patented Oct. 18, 1955 by clutch 77, sprocket wheel78, sprocket chain 79 and sprocket. wheel 80,, with, shaft 81 journaledin the ends of beams 60 on. onesidebf the chassis T. A pulley 82 ismounted'at each end'of this shaft. 81 and: a second shaft 81 isjournaled' in the beam 60011 the: other side. of. the chassis T,provided; with two; pulleys 82, and a conveyor cable 83 is. roveaboutthe pair of pulleys adjacent each of the beams 60;

I will now describethelocking, means with. which the chassis T isprovided; Suitably mounted at each end of each of the beams 59 is apressure cylinder 84 with pistons 85 attached to a rectilinear rack 86provided with a key 87 in a keyway on the beams 59, and meshing with asegmental rack 89 rotatably mounted on the beam 59. The rack 89 isprovided on its face with a stub shaft 90 on which is rotatably mounteda block 91 having trunnions 92 disposed in the forked ends 93 of a link94 passed through a yoke 95 mounted on the keyway 88, and having aninclined seat 96. The link 94 has at its upper end the locking hook 97.

Having described the details of construction of the truck, I will nowdescribe its use. We will assume that one of the containers C has beencharged with the load of freight to be transported and has been imposedupon the chassis T (as illustrated in Fig. 2), the beams B of of thecontainer C registering with the beams 59 of the chassis T, and thelocking hooks 97 fastening them thereon, and rigidly attaching thecontainer C to the chassis T for transportation thereby. We will assumethat the load transported by the truck reaches a terminal. The truck islaid alongside a platform. The locking hooks 97 are released byreciprocation of pistons 85 and their associated mechanisms, assumingthe positions indicated in Fig. 3 and Fig. 6. Motor M, by clutch 68,then actuates the reciprocating mechanism of the conveyor platform ofthe chassis T, bringing conveyor cables 83 into contact with beams B ofthe container C and thereby raising container C thereon until its beamsB are clear of hooks 97, as illustrated in Fig. 3. The motor M, byclutch 77, then actuates the cables 83 to cause the container C to movetransversely of the chassis T toward the platform.

It is obvious that the reciprocating and conveyor mechanism of the truckchassis T can be applied to a railroad car. The reversal of the severalsteps of the heretofore described process serves to move the containerfrom the platform to the chassis. It is obvious that the container C maybe of any desired form and size to provide a supporting medium for theparticular kind of freight to be transported.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. In a vehicle, the combination of a chassis having a pair ofhorizontal, lateral beams, each of said beams having a pair of upper endportions and an intermediate lower portion, all of said end portionshaving their upper surfaces in a common plane, and the two intermediateportions having their upper surfaces in a common plane; a platform;supporting means for said platform, mounted on said intermediateportions of said beams, and adapted to raise and lower said platformrelative to said chassis; a pair of horizontal conveyor cables carriedby said platform and adapted to travel transversely of said chassis, theparts being so dimensioned and related that the upper surfaces of saidcables are above and below the plane of said end portions when saidplatform is raised and lowered, respectively; a prime mover carried bysaid platform; and means, driven by said prime mover, adapted toalternatively actuate said raising and lowering means and drive saidcables.

2. In a vehicle, the combination of a chassis having a pair ofhorizontal beams, each of said beams having a pair of elevated portionsand a lower portion, all of said elevated portions having their uppersurfaces in a common plane, and the two lower portions having theirupper surfaces in a common plane; a platform; supporting means for saidplatform, mounted on said chassis, and

adapted to raise and lower said platform relative to said chassis;conveyor means carried by said platform and adapted to traveltransversely of said chassis, the pans References Cited in the file ofthis patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,257,169 Yarbrough Feb. 19, 1918Stone June 21, 1921 Leech et al. Nov. 3, 1931 Kellett Oct. 27, 1936Ludington 1938 Faries 1938 Faries I 1938 Grundler Sept. 5, 1939 MaineIan. 9, 1940 Lima ;Iune'3, 1941 Norbom Dec. 23', 1941 Baldwin Apr. 12,1949 Gray June 6, 1950 Kinsey Apr. 3, 1-951 Lull Dec. 16, 1952 w

